Block Puzzler Options

[CSM]

Block Puzzler

( alt for image 1 )

Download

version 1.0.3

Thanks go out to:

• Hunter Ryba, Hunter890 - transcribing cards, images
• Nicolas Alvarez, BOINCer - transcribing cards
• Anyone else in ##konfabulator that answered my questions or gave feedback otherwise

Features:

• Multiple "Sets" (some up to 40 cards)
• Ease of creating new sets*
• Ability to skip between cards in a set
• The Widget remembers what card you are on when you quit
• Visible display of cards which have been completed
• Anything else I missed ...

Currently a lot of information is lost when you switch sets. It's very close to starting over with that set. There is also no action when a set is completed. Any open card is reset if the Widget is reloaded. The open/closed status of the "tray" is remembered between sessions.

* See readme extracted to data folder for now. There is currently no way to export or import sets.

Rules:
If you've ever played with the game Rush Hour, the rules are exactly the same. Vertical blocks can only be moved up and down, and horizontal blocks can only move left and right. Blocks cannot be dragged through other blocks. To beat a card, drag the red block into the green square and let it go. Some blocks may have to be carefully moved before this can happen.

There are no move counters, scoring, or timers. The idea in my implementation of this game is not how well you can complete each board, either in lowest moves or fastest time. It is more about just being able to finish as many cards as you can, an the challenge of beating the next hardest card.

Caveat Emptor:
"Buyer be warned", this Widget is a little rough around the edges. Not all animations are perfectly synchronized and would take quite a bit of work to make that possible. Some items disappear immediately instead of animating away. This is due to issues with trying to make it animate away.

Writeup:
The idea for this Widget was born out of a very similar idea by Hunter way previous to this. When I asked how far he'd gotten, I learned he'd dropped the idea. I started work on this almost immediately after. This Widget went through 3 name changes: originally called Traffic Jam, then Block Shuffle, next Block Shuffler, and ended up settling on Block Puzzler (the "er" works better). I also toyed with some other ideas of things to add to this before posting it, such as an about window (needed more images than I had, and I've never designed a good one), going to the "darkside" by adding a user-accepted "license window" (I feel the license applies mainly to my code) and/or a slightly unobtrusive context-menu donation link (I think I like the general idea of author support, but have an adverse reaction to putting it out there and actually asking for donations. good thing this isn't my career).

This Widget is built upon many 1-file "library" classes, all of which I'd written previously, and one which was formed to encapsulate code I wrote in various forms anyway (ExTimer). I suggest checking these out, they may be of use in other places. As always, the license printed atop each file applies (one is public domain, the rest are not).

This Widget should be Y!WE 4.0 compatible, but with no 4.0-compatibility validator, I can only hope I caught everything.

Extra-Credit:
For those interested, here are links to previous iterations of this Widget (that somehow managed to stay around, probably because when I changed Widget names I didn't delete old builds with the old name) to see how it progressed. These files may or may not have a license file inside, however they are under the same license as Block Puzzler. Obtain a copy of the license. I am not interested in finishing these proto-Widgets or bug reports for them. Thank you.

Download: Traffic Jam, Block Shuffler

[creyentededios]

First, when dragging the blocks fast, they overlap:


Also, sometimes when changing sets, the animations don't take place. I can't arrow up or down for more cards, can't change sets, and can't reset the card. I can, however, play that card and right click and get the menu. The debug menu stays empty, though.

[CSM]

First, when dragging the blocks fast, they overlap.

Yes, that's a known issue. However I abate it by two methods: ignoring mouse events where the distance traveled is greater than one square, and by aligning all blocks to a square when the mouse is released. Therefore I believe you took that screenshot while the mouse was still down (from dragging). won't fix.

Also, sometimes when changing sets, the animations don't take place. I can't arrow up or down for more cards, can't change sets, and can't reset the card. I can, however, play that card and right click and get the menu. The debug menu stays empty, though.

I do not know what you may have done to cause this issue, as I never saw it through out making the Widget and testing it. However with a few small tests I was able to trigger a DOMException, which results in what you described.

Steps to reproduce issue:
1) click on a card in the sidebar not already selected
2) during the animation to move the selection, click the same card again

The display should be blank and the the Widget should now be sufficiently messed up to cause DOMExceptions for any further actions.

I will attempt to fix this. If this is not the issue you are describing, I need more details and a very descriptive set of steps to reproduce the issue. Thank you.

[CSM]

Version 1.0.1 is up and it fixes the issue described in my previous post.
Version 1.0.2 is up and it fixes a bug in the ExtTimer class, which does not affect any Widget behavior. License for this class has also changed to Modified BSD.
Version 1.0.3 is up and it fixes several bugs. If you scroll the "current card" bar out of view, and beat the current card, it will no longer just "freeze". Also, after you beat a card, the card you just beat is now selectable again after advancing to the next card (previously a bug prevented that).